Late rally erases loss in Dow; Nasdaq down

Friday

Mar 30, 2012 at 12:01 AMMar 30, 2012 at 9:12 AM

NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks rallied to finish mixed yesterday after spending most of the day in the red. Investors were reminded that Europe has not solved its debt crisis and that the U.S. economy is far from healed.

NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks rallied to finish mixed yesterday after spending most of the day in the red. Investors were reminded that Europe has not solved its debt crisis and that the U.S. economy is far from healed.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 94 points at its low but finished up 19.61 points at 13,145.82. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 2.26 points to close at 1,403.28, and the Nasdaq lost 9.60 points, closing at 3,095.36.

The government released incremental good news: The number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell to the fewest mark since April 2008, and economic growth in the last three months of last year was in line with expectations.

But the government also said that many more people than originally estimated filed unemployment claims in recent months. And economists think that growth has slowed to an annual rate of about 1.5 percent, from 3 percent last quarter.